


Canary Song

by sansasnarks



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, Episode fixit, because that needed fixing, but mostly sara and laurel, the legends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 18:55:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6483136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansasnarks/pseuds/sansasnarks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a perfectly normal mission, until Sara stops at a specific grave. Fixit to Arrow 4x18 + Sara's reaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Canary Song

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't even watched yet but Tumblr pretty much gave me the whole damn episode and I am in denial and LIVID so here's a fixit + Sara's reaction. Laurel will be okay, but there will be angst in the beginning, so warning on that.

"Wow," Martin said, putting on his glasses. "The future is-"

"Astonishing," Sara and Jax said in unison, and the two glanced at each other and started giggling. 

"Ah, we're _joking,_ professor, relax," Sara laughed at Martin's offended expression. "You're right. I can't believe this is Star City in 2146." She looked around, pleased with how happy and sunny the city seemed to be. "I guess we stopped the 2046 timeline from stopping after all," she said softly, her lips twitching into a small smile. She looked off to the side, taking in the cemetery that lay at their side. "Guess death rates in Star City are still awful though." 

"Actually," Rip said nonchalantly. "This is where all the vigilantes of Star City are buried. It's a sort of memorial to them." 

"Hm," Sara said noncommittedly, glancing at the graves as she walked by. 

"So I'm guessing _I'm_ not buried there," Leonard drawled from behind Sara, and Sara snorted, but the smile dropped from her face when a grave caught her eye. 

Sara stopped short at the grave, taking in the name. 

"Wait a second," she said, stopping the team. "This is Laurel's name." She bent down, tracing the name with her fingers. She shouldn't be surprised - this was the year 2146, and all of her family would be gone by now. 

And then, Sara's eyes flickered down to the year.  _1985-2016. The Black Canary_. 

"No," she whispered. "This can't be right." 

"Sara, you all ri- _oh_ ," Ray said, stopping short when he saw the grave. The rest of the team followed closely behind, looks of concern masking their faces. Rip pushed to the front, eyes wide. 

"Sara-"

"How did this happen?" Sara asked quietly, her voice clipped and short. 

Rip stammered and looked at the device on his watch, furiously typing for an answer. He pulled up a newspaper article and started reading. "Apparently, during a Star City riot, Ms Lance-" 

" _Laurel_ ," Sara interrupted fiercely. 

"Yes, my apologies, well, it seems she was..." Rip trailed off, but cleared his throat and continued when Sara looked back at him. "It seems that a certain Damian Darhk killed her during that time." 

"Was I there?" 

Rip looked down. "Sara, I don't see how this could possibly -" 

Sara got up then and stalked over to Rip. "I don't  _care_ what you think about it," she hissed, getting closer to Rip. "Just tell me. Was. I. There?" 

Silence, and then a sigh. "No, it seems as if you were not." 

Sara stepped back suddenly as if she had been slapped in the face. The team was gathered around her, sadness written over all their faces, and finally Kendra spoke. 

"Sara I'm so sor-" 

"No," Sara said, and suddenly she was turning and running. 

"Wait -  _SARA!_ " Rip yelled, practically tripping over himself as he ran after her. The rest of the Legends were right on his heels, Jax and Kendra quickly overtaking him. Jax was making the most ground, and they were all shouting Sara's name, yelling for her to slow down, but if Sara heard them, she wasn't listening. To Rip's relief, he saw that Sara was running back to the Waverider, but his eyes went wide when he saw the Waverider's door start to close. 

"What the-?" Rip gasped out, not sure if he could make it, and suddenly he found himself in the air, being held by rather uncomfortable arms. 

"Sorry," Ray said apologetically. "I just wanted to make sure all of us made it back on the ship." Rip was glad that Ray didn't use the moment to make an " _I wouldn't one of us to be left behind"_ comment. Ahead of him, he saw that Kendra had picked up Mick Rory, and Jax and Professor Stein had already fused and were flying Snart in through the Waverider's door. Kendra and Mick went through next, and Rip and Ray squeaked in at the very last second, rolling on the floor as the Waverider's door hit them. 

The team rushed to their control room, hearing Sara's voice before they saw her. She was pacing around Rip's table, her knuckles clenched so hard that Rip fleetingly thought Sara might break her own hand. 

"Just  _do it_ , Gideon," Sara was saying. 

"I'm sorry, Ms Lance, but I am not authorized to let you fly the ship." 

Sara gritted her teeth and she slammed her fist on the table, and Rip grimaced when he heard the soft but audible crack that followed it. He stepped back when Sara turned and set her sights on him. 

"Sara, what are you doing?" 

"What does it  _look_ like I'm doing?" Sara asked, her anger growing. "I'm taking this ship back to 2016 so I can save my sister." 

"Sara," Rip started. "I am sorry for your loss, but I cannot stress enough that there are serious repercussions from-" 

"Do  _not_ give me that, Rip," Sara spat. "We all know why you're really here, so do  _not_ play that card with me." She stopped then and looked at Rip. "Did you know this would happen?" 

"No," Rip said, his voice softening. "I  _swear_ to you that I did not. But I must advise you Sara - there are  _always_ consequences, and I want you to think about what you're doing." 

"What is there to think about?" Sara shot back. 

"All right, let's just all take a breather," Ray said, and Rip didn't know if he was grateful or irritated at Ray's constant need for conflict resolution. "How about we give Sara some time to process this information and just come back in an hour and see what we want to do." 

"All right," Sara agreed, her eyes hard. "But I'm  _going_ to save my sister, with or without your help." And with that, she turned and walked away. 

* * *

 

_1\. 2. 3._

Sara counted off each punch and kick, every single blow to the punching bag moving it a little bit farther as Sara thought about Laurel. 

Laurel telling off a girl at school who had picked on 9 year old Sara. 

_Punch_

Laurel melting into Sara's arms when they reconciled, holding onto her as if she would never let her go. 

_Punch_

Sara and Laurel sitting on Laurel's couch, watching old movies together, Sara shamelessly stealing Laurel's popcorn. 

_Punch_

Laurel wrapping her arms around Sara, her chin resting on Sara's shoulder, telling her that she would be a hero in the light, that she was going to make a  _difference_. 

Sara gave a final punch at the last one, and she paused, breathing heavily and trying not to think about those memories.  _It's okay_ , she told herself.  _You're going to save her._

"Seems like you've been doing some thinking," came a voice behind her, and Sara sighed. 

"Of all the people on our team I would have assumed you would have realized that I don't need a pep talk," Sara said, setting the bag back in place. 

"Trust me, this isn't a pep talk," Snart said. 

"Oh, so what? You want to sit and talk about my feelings? Ask me how I'm doing?" Sara asked, turning to face Snart. "Well guess what, big surprise but I feel like crap. My sister is  _dead_. She is the one who convinced me to go on this mission, she was the one who believed in me, and now she's-" Sara stopped and took a shuddering sigh. "Laurel Lance is a  _hero_ , _"_ she said. 

Snart said nothing, but took a seat. Sara waited for him to talk, but it seemed that he was content with just sitting in silence. Fine. They sat in silence for a while, until halfway through Snart's watch beeped. He looked down and said, "5 more minutes till you go back to Rip." 

"My answer hasn't changed," Sara said firmly, the anger rising up in her again. "Rip thinks that I didn't think about this," she scoffed. "I  _have_ been thinking," Sara said, and the anger seemed to suddenly deflate out of her. "It's only been about an hour but it's all I can think about. How do you think she must have felt?" Sara asked, her voice going far away. "I know exactly how dying feels, she must have felt so...lonely." 

"Raymond looked up the story after you stormed off," Leonard offered up, his voice still decidedly neutral. "If it means anything to you, it says she spent her last moments surrounded by friends and family." 

"No," Sara said softly, looking at the wall. "In the end, she was still dying alone." A faraway look entered Sara's eye. "Did it mention my father? Or my mother?" 

"No," came the reply. 

Sara sighed. "My parents had to go through losing a daughter. _Twice_. How could they possibly deal with losing another daughter? And Laurel is my sister. She has always fought for me." Sara stopped again, and Leonard saw her fingers go to her eyes. She sniffled and quickly wiped a tear away before continuing. "Laurel saved _me_ when I died. She brought me back. I have a time machine with me, how could I not save her? If I go back, I could save her. I know it." 

Snart offered up his one word of advice: "I have a sister, and I know exactly what I would do to save her. You don't have to convince  _me_ of anything." Sara looked down then, but from the corner of his eye, Leonard saw movement at the door. He looked up, catching a quick flash of a brown coat before the image was gone and the doorway was empty. His watch beeped again. "One more minute, Sara. You ready?" 

Sara was up and already striding towards the door. "I'm ready to save my sister," she said determinedly, and Snart smiled at her receding image before following after her. 

* * *

 

The rest of the team was already gathered when Sara and Leonard joined them. Sara walked up to the group and looked at Rip. 

"I'm _going_ , Rip," she said softly, all her anger gone. "I have to save her." 

"I'm with Sara," Ray offered up from the background. He looked at Sara. "I know what it's like to lose a loved one, and every day I want to go back and save her. Sara has been fighting for us, and I think she deserves a chance to save her sister." 

"Me too," Kendra said softly. 

"Same," Jax said, nodding his head, and Martin was nodding in agreement next to him. 

"I guess it goes without saying that I'm in too," Snart said, and Rory followed up with a quick growl. "Me too." 

The team turned to Rip, who sighed before he spoke. "You'll get no argument from me, Sara," he said, and when Sara's mouth opened slightly in shock he gave a wry laugh. "I'm not _completely_ heartless you know. Besides," Rip continued. "I have studied many history books, and Laurel Lance is supposed to live a long life. Something went wrong, and if you think that you can fix it, then I trust you. I brought you all on this mission to save the world, but also my family. But as much as I want to complete my mission, I will not sacrifice any of your families for my own." 

A wave of emotions overtook Sara, but she cleared her throat, trying to ignore the waver in her voice. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you all." 

"You don't need to thank us," Jax said, a determined look already overtaking his face. "You're our teammate, our _family_ , and that makes Laurel family too. We have to try." Sara gave a small smile at Jax then and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. 

Rip clapped his hands together. "All right everybody, strap yourselves in," he said, already sitting at his captain's seat. The rest of the team followed suit, and Rip punched numbers into his keypad. "Gideon, take us to April 6th, 2016." 

* * *

 

"Woah," Laurel said, walking into the Waverider's main room. "So this is where you've been traveling." 

Sara walked besides her, her face beaming. "Yeah, pretty cool, right?" she said. 

Laurel grinned. "Very," she said, and she grimaced, her hands floating to her side. 

"You okay?" Sara asked, her eyes flitting to Laurel's bruise.

"I'm fine," Laurel said, waving Sara away from her bruise. Sara let out a sigh of relief. They had gotten there just in time - Darhk had the arrow poised and Sara had swooped in and kicked it out of his hands. Looking back, she reveled in the image of his shocked face, but in the moment, Sara was only consumed with one objective: kill. She had pounced on Darhk, catching him by surprise just long enough to start beating him, and for reasons unknown to her he was practically smoking and shriveling at her hands. She could faintly hear her teammates yelling at her to stop, but Sara hadn't listened - until strong but gentle arms caught her from behind and pulled her back, and suddenly Sara found herself wrapped in Laurel's arms and crying. 

The Legends had taken care of Darhk shortly afterwards - Rip told her they had captured him and handed him over to Oliver Queen, who was currently keeping him in Lian Yu, but Sara didn't care about Darhk. All she cared about was Laurel, who was standing in front of her, happy, bewildered, and most of all,  _alive_. They had taken her to the MedBay afterwards - Laurel had started groaning because the arrow had pierced her a little bit, and Rip declared that the MedBay had the best way of treating her, and within a few hours, Laurel was up and walking again. She had already met the whole team, who were ecstatic about meeting her - Ray and Kendra already knew her, so they greeted her with a quick hello (Ray had said, "I'm so glad you're alive," before catching himself and walking away), while Jax had taken one look at Laurel and started stammering. Laurel had been very concerned when she had met Snart and Rory, but besides initial confusion, she seemed to be faring well. 

The other Legends turned when Sara and Laurel entered the room. "Ah, Ms. Lance," Rip said, and Jax laughed. "Which one?" 

Rip ignored the boy and went on. "I'm glad to see you've recovered from your injuries." 

"Yeah," Laurel smiled. "It's a little sore but nothing I can't deal with." She looked around the room then, making sure to look at every Legend. "And hey, I still don't fully understand what happened here, but I know that if you all didn't come when you did, I might not be here today. You all saved me, and put away Darhk for good, so thank you." Laurel took her eyes off of them and turned to Sara and squeezed her hand. "Thank you," Laurel repeated, and Sara smiled at her, small tears prickling her eyes. 

"You never have to thank me," she said, squeezing Laurel's hand back, and the two shared a smile before joining the team at their seats. 

"So, I guess you'll be dropping me off back at Star City," Laurel commented, still taking a look around the ship. "I gotta say," she addressed Sara. "I'm a bit jealous. This is a really cool ship. I almost don't want to go back to Star City." 

"Well, you don't have to," Rip brought up, and Sara and Laurel both looked at the man. Sara blinked at Rip, the surprise evident on her face. She had been planning on asking Laurel to stay, but out of all the Legends, she would have never assumed that Rip would be the one to extend the offer. 

Rip cleared his throat and went on. "If you would not like to join us we can drop you off anywhere you'd like in 2016," he continued. "But after watching you fight, I for one certainly think that we could use the Black Canary on our team." 

Laurel said nothing for a while, and Sara jumped in. "I know it's a lot to take in," she said. "If you don't want to go or need time, I understa-"

"I want to go," Laurel said firmly, and Sara couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face. 

"You do?" 

"Yes," Laurel said, and she turned to Sara and flashed her a huge smile. She spoke softly, enough for the Legends to hear, but directed her comments at Sara. "I've been questioning whether I want to stay in Star City for a long time, and I realized something. I love being Black Canary, but it's time for me to move on from Star City. And -" she turned and addressed the rest of the Legends. "If I can help stop Savage, then I am ready. Just let me get my things and say goodbye, and I'll gladly go on this mission." 

The rest of the Legends all smiled (even Snart and Mick gave small tiny smiles of appreciation). "Of course," Rip said. "We can get your things right now if you're feeling up to it." 

Laurel smiled at the group and intertwined her hands with Sara, giving her hand a small squeeze. 

"I'm ready." 


End file.
